A magnet is an energy-storage device. A magnet is energized when it is first magnetized. The energy remains in the magnet indefinitely when properly made and properly handled. Unlike batteries, magnetic energy is not drained away because magnets do not perform any (net) work on their surroundings. Thus, the energy is always available for use. Performance of a permanent magnet may be described by such key parameters as coercivity, saturation magnetization, remanent magnetization, energy product, permeability, electrical resistivity, temperature coefficient and mechanical properties such as tensile and fracture strength. Strong magnets typically contain a combination of rare earth elements (RE) and transition metals including, e.g., RCo5, R2Co17, and Fe14R2B, where R=Yttrium (Y), Lanthanum (La), Cerium (Ce), Praseodymium (Pr), Neodymium (Nd), and/or Samarium (Sm). Strongest room temperature permanent magnets include a compound with chemical formula Fe14Nd2B. Extra Nd is often added to improve mechanical properties. While most of the rare earth elements are not rare, a shortage currently exists for some rare earth elements, in particular, neodymium (Nd) and dysprosium (Dy) due principally to world-wide demand for magnets used in motors and generators. However, costs for manufacturing magnets in the U.S. are higher than those in China and Japan due to higher purchase prices for these rare earth elements and/or technology licensing costs. Consequently, magnet manufacturing has largely moved from the U.S. Currently, there is concern in the U.S. that growth in wind-based power generation and electric vehicle technology, which require high-performance rare earth magnets, may be stifled by a lack of economically-competitive electric generators and motors because of the high cost of key magnetic components. Thus, there is a growing desire to develop alternative magnetic materials that employ a lower quantity of rare earth elements and new cost-effective processing technologies to mitigate reliance on foreign sources. Conventional methods for manufacturing permanent magnets involve powder metallurgy processes that include such steps as ingot casting, powder preparation through pulverization (e.g., via grinding or jet milling), aligning powdered materials in a strong magnetic field, compacting, hot pressing and/or sintering, sizing, finishing with protective coatings, and magnetization of the bulk magnets. However, conventional powder metallurgy processes are both energy-intensive and time-intensive and often waste large amounts of materials during sizing and shaping. And, these powder metallurgy processes also have limited ability to attain desired microstructure and bulk density values. Because performance of permanent magnets is directly related to the microstructure, grain size, crystallographic orientation of the grains, phase distribution within the grains and on the grain boundaries, and bulk density of the magnetic material are key elements to attaining high magnetic performance. Magnetic performance is characterized by a high remnant magnetization value, a high coercivity value, and a high energy product value. One key to maintaining high performance-to-weight ratios in traction motors and wind generators is to employ stronger magnets. It has been established by micro magnetics theory and thin film experimental work that only textured and exchanged-coupled nanocomposite permanent magnets have the potential to exceed the energy product of current state-of-the-art magnets such as NdFeB magnets. Such magnets would be constructed of composites composed of a hard magnetic phase material that provides a high coercivity but limited magnetization, and a soft magnetic phase material that provides a high magnetization but a limited coercivity. However, while the architecture of exchange-coupled nanocomposites has been worked out theoretically, technical challenges have prevented the theoretical concepts being put into practice. For example, according to theory, magnetically-hard phase materials (with particles of a size between 20 nm and ˜100 nm) must be homogenously mixed with the magnetically-soft phase (with particles of a size between 3 nm and ˜15 nm). And, the phases must be metallically bonded for the exchange-coupling field to distribute readily through grains of the material. In addition, the hard phase must be textured such that the crystallographic orientation of a majority of grains is aligned along the magnetic-easy axis. However, conventional powder metallurgy involves several energy-intensive steps, so particles with sizes at or below 100 nm are not produced economically. Further, conventional powder metallurgy does not generally achieve homogeneous mixing between the soft magnetic phase materials and the hard magnetic phase materials needed to produce a uniform exchange coupling. Accordingly new processes are needed for economical manufacturing of permanent magnets that overcome particle size, homogenous mixing, texture, and metallic bonding limitations of conventional processes, and that further achieve green densities greater than 95%. The present invention addresses these needs.